Chronic Migraine Headaches Shrink Your Brain

Allodynia (Ancient Greek άλλος állos “other” and οδύνη odúnē “pain”) refers to central pain sensitization (increased response of neurons) following normally non-painful, often repetitive, stimulation. Allodynia can lead to the triggering of a pain response from stimuli which do not normally provoke pain.

According to a recent study migraineurs had smaller midbrain volumes, and significant inward deformations in the ventral midbrain and pons, and outward deformations in the lateral medulla and dorsolateral pons relative to healthy controls.

The study also showed less cerebellar and brain stem density in migraine patients without aura relative to healthy controls using voxel-based morphometry.

People with Migraines Have Altered Sensation to Temperature

Migraineurs with lower heat pain thresholds have smaller medulla and cerebellar peduncles according to this study. Clinical, where there was a significant positive correlation between cutaneous heat pain thresholds and medulla and cerebellar peduncle volume indicating that migraine patients who were more sensitive to heat pain had less cerebellar peduncle and medulla volume.

Migraineurs with greater symptoms of allodynia have smaller midbrain volumes,” according to study findings cited in an article published in NeuroImage Clinical, where “post hoc analysis showed that there was a significant negative correlation between allodynia and midbrain volume in migraineurs suggesting that more severe symptoms of allodynia were related to less midbrain volume.

The Pain Never Stops

Ictal refers to a physiologic state or event such as a seizure, stroke, or headache. The word originates from the Latin ictus, meaning a blow or a stroke.  Interictal refers to the period between seizures, or convulsions, that are characteristic of an epilepsy disorder.

Regarding cutaneous allodynia in patients with migraine, although these hypersensitivities are magnified during the ictal phase of migraine these hypersensitivities can also persist during the interictal phase of migraine, when patients are pain-free.

Chong CD, Plasencia JD, Frakes DH, Schwedt TJ. Structural alterations of the brainstem in migraine. Neuroimage Clinical. 2017;13:223-227.

If you are suffering from migraine headaches and would like to schedule a consultation with Dr. Burdorf, call his office at 480-951-5006, or schedule appointment here.